Professional Experience Year Co-Op Program (PEY Co-op)

Engineering Career Centre

Experiential Learning Commons
255 Beverly Street, Third Floor

Contact:
engineeringcareers.utoronto.ca/about-us/contact-ecc
pey.coop@utoronto.ca
www.engineeringcareers.utoronto.ca

About the Program

The Professional Experience Year Co-op Program (PEY Co-op), managed by the U of T's Engineering Career Centre (ECC), has a 40-year track record of helping undergraduate students connect to industry, apply in-class learning to real-world environments and gain significant work experience, setting up students for long-term career success.

Students registered in PEY Co-op complete mandatory career development and workplace readiness training to prepare students for employment. The training is followed by a minimum of 12 months to a maximum of 20 months of full-time, paid work experience. These competitive work terms must be related to students’ respective academic programs and are offered by a broad range of organizations, from Canadian startups to multinational corporations.

The time to degree completion for students registered in PEY Co-op is normally five years. Successful completion of the PEY Co-op program fulfils the practical experience degree requirement (PER) for undergraduate Engineering degrees.

Enrolment

High school applicants indicate their interest in PEY Co-op on their mandatory Online Student Profile in the Engineering Applicant Portal. 

All undergraduate students registered within the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering may indicate their interest directly to the ECC until January of their second year of study, by the last day to add new courses for the Winter Term. Students must complete and submit a PEY Co-op Program Registration Form online, using a valid University of Toronto email address.

Upon successful completion of the PEY Co-op, a notation will be recorded on the official university transcript. 

Eligibility Requirements

Students must meet and maintain the following PEY Co-op eligibility requirements throughout the program:   

• Be a registered undergraduate student in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (FASE) at the University of Toronto (U of T).
• Maintain a full-time course load for the terms scheduled immediately before and immediately following each work term.
  • Students with part-time status may be considered for the program if they have received an accommodation from the University. Examples include having a reduced course-load accommodation with Accessibility Services or being an active Varsity athlete. Students with PEY Co-op accommodation needs should contact registration.ecc@utoronto.ca.
• Remain in good academic standing or proceed on probation throughout the program and associated work terms.
• Remain in good financial standing at the University of Toronto.
• Not currently part of another co-op program at the University of Toronto.
• All international PEY Co-op students require a valid co-op work permit to participate in a work term.  
   

Program Sequence
 

Program Registration

All PEY Co-op students are registered in the PEY Co-op subject POSt (AEINTCOOP). The subject post will appear on a student’s transcript.

Each work term will appear on a transcript in the form of a course code. It will be dependent on the work term type:

Students seeking summer work terms will be registered in PEY300 during the recruitment cycle preceding the work term.
 

Credit Requirements

Applying to the PEY Co-op program is optional, however, successfully completing a minimum of 12 months of continuous employment becomes mandatory once a student is admitted into the program. Students who choose not to participate should consult with their Academic Advisor about meeting the Faculty's mandatory 600 hours of practical experience requirement (PER) before graduation.

Work terms will be assessed on a student’s transcript as either CR (credit) or NCR (no credit) with no impact on a student’s grade point average.

Obtaining a CR on a work term is contingent upon completing all the required deliverables:

• Successful completion of Introduction to PEY Co-op and the PEY Co-op Preparatory modules.
• Registration of appropriate work terms with the PEY Co-op Office.
• Completion of the minimum duration of employment, as applicable.
  • One Summer Co-op Work Term (12-16 weeks)
  • One Professional Experience Year Work Term (12-16 months)
• Adherence to the signed employment contract between student and employer partner.
• All work-term deliverables:
  • Evaluation forms 
  • Final reflection reports 
  • Site visits
     

Fees

Every student registered in PEY Co-op is required to pay program fees as established by the University. The fees cover the cost of operations including, but not limited to, registration, stakeholder relations, curriculum design and iteration, business development, student support and grading. These fees are calculated in accordance with the Government of Ontario and University of Toronto policies. 

The program is designed to invest in student success first, then recoup costs in a delayed manner. This means that the ECC provides the context, programming and tools to engage in preparatory and recruitment cycle activity to secure a work term. If a student engages in the PEY Co-op Program up to and including the 12-16 month recruitment cycle and secures a work term, then the student needs to pay the balance of the program fee. If a student is not able to secure a 12-16 month work term and instead returns to classes full-time directly following their third year of study, the ECC will confirm the student's eligibility for the cancellation of remaining installments. Fees paid in earlier sessions are not refundable.

For more information on PEY Co-op program fees, please consult the Engineering Career Centre website.
 

Withdrawal and Removal

Students are expected to follow through on their commitment to the PEY Co-op program. If a student’s participation status changes, they are required to contact the Engineering Career Centre as soon as possible. 

Students who wish to withdraw from the program can do so before the last day to add courses in the Fall Term of their third year of study. If a student remains enrolled in the program past the withdrawal date and does not return to full-time studies in the following academic year, it will be determined that they are on a work term and they will be charged the remaining balance of the program fee. 

PEY Co-op students must adhere to all program guidelines as set out by the ECC. Students shall conduct themselves with professionalism and respect towards all ECC staff, fellow students, and employer and alumni partners, whether the exchange is in-person, over the phone, through email or in a virtual meeting.  

Furthermore, PEY Co-op students must uphold the University of Toronto’s policies throughout the program, including, but not limited to the Student Code of Conduct and the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. Should a student engage in academic or professional misconduct, the ECC reserves the right to take appropriate action including removing the student from a recruitment cycle, issuing the student an NCR (no credit) for a work term or removal from the PEY Co-op program.